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Light the Dark: Writers on Creativity, Inspiration, and the Artistic Process
A stunning guide to finding creative inspiration and how it can illuminate your life, your work, and your art—from Stephen King, Junot Díaz, Elizabeth Gilbert, Amy Tan, Khaled Hosseini, Roxane Gay, Neil Gaiman, and many more acclaimed writers
What inspires you? That’s the simple, but profound question posed to forty-six renowned authors in LIGHT THE DARK. Each writer begins with a favorite passage from a novel, a song, a poem—something that gets them started and keeps them going with the creative work they love. From there, incredible lessons and stories of life-changing encounters with art emerge, like how sneaking books into his job as a night security guard helped Khaled Hosseini learn that nothing he creates will ever be truly finished. Or how a college reading assignment taught Junot Díaz that great art can be a healing conversation, and an unexpected poet led Elizabeth Gilbert to embrace an unyielding optimism, even in the face of darkness. LIGHT THE DARK collects the best of The Atlantic‘s much-acclaimed “By Heart” series edited by Joe Fassler and adds brand new pieces, each one paired with a striking illustration. Here is a guide to creative living and writing in the vein of Daily Rituals, Bird by Bird, and Big Magic for anyone who wants to learn how great writers find inspiration—and how to find some of your own.
CONTRIBUTING AUTHORS: Elizabeth Gilbert, Junot Díaz, Marilynne Robinson, Jonathan Lethem, Michael Chabon, Aimee Bender, Mary Gaitskill, Stephen King, Neil Gaiman, Roxane Gay, Angela Flournoy, Jonathan Franzen, Yiyun Li, Leslie Jamison, Claire Messud, Edwidge Danticat, David Mitchell, Khaled Hosseini, Ayana Mathis, Kathryn Harrison, Azar Nafisi, Hanya Yanagihara, Jane Smiley, Nell Zink, Emma Donoghue, Jeff Tweedy, Eileen Myles, Maggie Shipstead, Sherman Alexie, Andre Dubus III, Billy Collins, Lev Grossman, Karl Ove Knausgaard, Charles Simic, Jim Shepard, T.C. Boyle, Tom Perrotta, Viet Than Nguyen, William Gibson, Mark Haddon, Ethan Canin, Jessie Ball, Jim Crace, and Walter Mosley.
“As [these authors] reveal what inspires them, they, in turn, inspire the reader, all while celebrating the beauty and purpose of art.” –Booklist
What inspires you? That’s the simple, but profound question posed to forty-six renowned authors in LIGHT THE DARK. Each writer begins with a favorite passage from a novel, a song, a poem—something that gets them started and keeps them going with the creative work they love. From there, incredible lessons and stories of life-changing encounters with art emerge, like how sneaking books into his job as a night security guard helped Khaled Hosseini learn that nothing he creates will ever be truly finished. Or how a college reading assignment taught Junot Díaz that great art can be a healing conversation, and an unexpected poet led Elizabeth Gilbert to embrace an unyielding optimism, even in the face of darkness. LIGHT THE DARK collects the best of The Atlantic‘s much-acclaimed “By Heart” series edited by Joe Fassler and adds brand new pieces, each one paired with a striking illustration. Here is a guide to creative living and writing in the vein of Daily Rituals, Bird by Bird, and Big Magic for anyone who wants to learn how great writers find inspiration—and how to find some of your own.
CONTRIBUTING AUTHORS: Elizabeth Gilbert, Junot Díaz, Marilynne Robinson, Jonathan Lethem, Michael Chabon, Aimee Bender, Mary Gaitskill, Stephen King, Neil Gaiman, Roxane Gay, Angela Flournoy, Jonathan Franzen, Yiyun Li, Leslie Jamison, Claire Messud, Edwidge Danticat, David Mitchell, Khaled Hosseini, Ayana Mathis, Kathryn Harrison, Azar Nafisi, Hanya Yanagihara, Jane Smiley, Nell Zink, Emma Donoghue, Jeff Tweedy, Eileen Myles, Maggie Shipstead, Sherman Alexie, Andre Dubus III, Billy Collins, Lev Grossman, Karl Ove Knausgaard, Charles Simic, Jim Shepard, T.C. Boyle, Tom Perrotta, Viet Than Nguyen, William Gibson, Mark Haddon, Ethan Canin, Jessie Ball, Jim Crace, and Walter Mosley.
“As [these authors] reveal what inspires them, they, in turn, inspire the reader, all while celebrating the beauty and purpose of art.” –Booklist
334 pages, Paperback
First published September 26, 2017
290 people are currently reading
2422 people want to read
About the author
Joe Fassler
4 books19 followersJoe Fassler is author of The Sky Was Ours, a novel published by Penguin Books in 2024. He also edited Light the Dark: Writers on Creativity, Inspiration, and the Artistic Process, a collection that built on his "By Heart" series of author interviews for The Atlantic. He currently lives in Denver.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 166 reviews
January 3, 2018
Usually, I avoid anthologies. Too often, they’re uneven and random. This one, however, is an incredibly special exception. Let me explain with an anecdote: instead of highlighting passages I enjoy, I use “book dart” bookmarks. Well, by the time I finished this book, I only had about four book darts left in the tin.
There’s just so much to love here. Here, we have so many great authors commenting, not so much on the process of writing, but on the life of artistic pursuit, their own inspirations and influences, and their discoveries about what it means to write.
The range of perspectives here is vast. It’s interesting to see where they contradict each other and where, in some instances, they agree with each other almost word for word.
I was deeply inspired by this book and came away with lots of new thoughts to chew on. Highly recommend.
There’s just so much to love here. Here, we have so many great authors commenting, not so much on the process of writing, but on the life of artistic pursuit, their own inspirations and influences, and their discoveries about what it means to write.
The range of perspectives here is vast. It’s interesting to see where they contradict each other and where, in some instances, they agree with each other almost word for word.
I was deeply inspired by this book and came away with lots of new thoughts to chew on. Highly recommend.
February 25, 2020
I can't look at everything hard enough.
This book was like attending a mini-seminar from some of the greatest in modern literature. Not only did it feature some of my all-time favorites, including Elizabeth Gilbert, Amy Tan, David Mitchell, Tom Perotta, and my hero, Stephen King; but it featured essays from those who are new-to-me and the quasi-familiar. And each essay by a talented, inspiring writer was about a talented writer who inspired them--an opening line or paragraph or stanza of a poem that affected their writing in profound ways, sometimes setting the essayist on the path to their own career.
This was fascinating, not only from a writer's standpoint in getting an inside look at the inner, creative workings of these great authors but we also receive an in-depth analysis of the author whose work their writing about. A two-for-one book rec in nearly every essay. (Honestly, I'm way overdue to read James Baldwin--twice referenced in this antho.)
Some of my favorite quotes:
Sherman Alexie writing about Adrian C. Louis: I'm in the reservation of my mind.
Alexie writes how that line "...calls to mind the way we tend to revisit our prisons. And we always go back." He writes about friends who revisit their childhood homes every holiday season, despite the pain being with their dysfunctional family brings them. "So you can see the broader applicability: I'm in the suburb of my mind. I'm in the farm town of my mind. I'm in the childhood bedroom of my mind."
This struck me as it applies to places that no longer exist for us to visit except in our minds. Memories that we go back to, over and over again. Or maybe they demand to be visited until they no longer hold as much power. I'm in cardiac unit of my mind. I'm in the pediatric ICU of my mind. I'm in the organ donor conference room of my mind.
Elizabeth Gilbert's essay on Jack Gilbert (no relation) was the fastest tbr add. We must have the stubbornness to accept our gladness in the ruthless furnace of this world. This is basically how I reconcile my own guilt at continuing to live when the grief grips me the hardest. To accept the curiosity about life I now have and the "stubborn gladness" that, for now, I'm still in it.
But I don't want to give the impression that this antho is a bunch of "deep thoughts" without practical applicability because it's a beautiful mix of both. There are wonderful insights about each author's process, about tools needed to be a writer, helpful anecdotes about the craft... It does what it sets out to do--shed a little light on the creative process with tools and help from some of the greats.
One I enjoyed immensely was by Hanya Yanagihara who wrote one of my favorites books last year, A Little Life. Yanagihara wrote about Lolita which is on my Top Shelf of all-time best books ever written. (And, in case anyone needs the reminder, NOT A LOVE STORY.) I was thrilled to see that we shared many of ideas about the beauty of Nabokov's prose, AND that she and I agree on the cardinal rule of writing, that your main focus, your guiding principle, your lighthouse in the dark whenever the way gets rocky and far, is to ask Does this serve the story? I really feel that's the best piece of writing advice anyone could give.
I also loved what she said about the way Nabokov wrote this book. "...you feel that the writer wasn't looking over his shoulder to see what's been done before. Nor is he looking into the future to see what the reception might be."
I love that. #writinggoals. To not write a book via the committee of voices in my head that criticize every line, but to write from the inner voice that doesn't even speak, but just makes the fingers press the keys. That was one of the most inspiring lines in the entire antho.
So for anyone who needs some advice, some book recs, or just likes to hear about how artists do what they do and what inspires them, then this book is for you. Not overly long, and with a little something for everyone.
And I have to add my perplexity that Stephen King wrote about the power of a great opening line and referenced two of his own books' openers, and yet somehow neglected to quote his universally-acknowledged best opener from The Dark Tower: "The gunslinger fled across the desert, and the man in black followed." I quoted that from memory, Mr. King, and I'm not alone! Maybe someday someone will ask me to write about an author who inspired me, and I'll get to give this line its proper due, since clearly SK was too modest and forgot. ;)
10 big, lighthouse stars
This book was like attending a mini-seminar from some of the greatest in modern literature. Not only did it feature some of my all-time favorites, including Elizabeth Gilbert, Amy Tan, David Mitchell, Tom Perotta, and my hero, Stephen King; but it featured essays from those who are new-to-me and the quasi-familiar. And each essay by a talented, inspiring writer was about a talented writer who inspired them--an opening line or paragraph or stanza of a poem that affected their writing in profound ways, sometimes setting the essayist on the path to their own career.
This was fascinating, not only from a writer's standpoint in getting an inside look at the inner, creative workings of these great authors but we also receive an in-depth analysis of the author whose work their writing about. A two-for-one book rec in nearly every essay. (Honestly, I'm way overdue to read James Baldwin--twice referenced in this antho.)
Some of my favorite quotes:
Sherman Alexie writing about Adrian C. Louis: I'm in the reservation of my mind.
Alexie writes how that line "...calls to mind the way we tend to revisit our prisons. And we always go back." He writes about friends who revisit their childhood homes every holiday season, despite the pain being with their dysfunctional family brings them. "So you can see the broader applicability: I'm in the suburb of my mind. I'm in the farm town of my mind. I'm in the childhood bedroom of my mind."
This struck me as it applies to places that no longer exist for us to visit except in our minds. Memories that we go back to, over and over again. Or maybe they demand to be visited until they no longer hold as much power. I'm in cardiac unit of my mind. I'm in the pediatric ICU of my mind. I'm in the organ donor conference room of my mind.
Elizabeth Gilbert's essay on Jack Gilbert (no relation) was the fastest tbr add. We must have the stubbornness to accept our gladness in the ruthless furnace of this world. This is basically how I reconcile my own guilt at continuing to live when the grief grips me the hardest. To accept the curiosity about life I now have and the "stubborn gladness" that, for now, I'm still in it.
But I don't want to give the impression that this antho is a bunch of "deep thoughts" without practical applicability because it's a beautiful mix of both. There are wonderful insights about each author's process, about tools needed to be a writer, helpful anecdotes about the craft... It does what it sets out to do--shed a little light on the creative process with tools and help from some of the greats.
One I enjoyed immensely was by Hanya Yanagihara who wrote one of my favorites books last year, A Little Life. Yanagihara wrote about Lolita which is on my Top Shelf of all-time best books ever written. (And, in case anyone needs the reminder, NOT A LOVE STORY.) I was thrilled to see that we shared many of ideas about the beauty of Nabokov's prose, AND that she and I agree on the cardinal rule of writing, that your main focus, your guiding principle, your lighthouse in the dark whenever the way gets rocky and far, is to ask Does this serve the story? I really feel that's the best piece of writing advice anyone could give.
I also loved what she said about the way Nabokov wrote this book. "...you feel that the writer wasn't looking over his shoulder to see what's been done before. Nor is he looking into the future to see what the reception might be."
I love that. #writinggoals. To not write a book via the committee of voices in my head that criticize every line, but to write from the inner voice that doesn't even speak, but just makes the fingers press the keys. That was one of the most inspiring lines in the entire antho.
So for anyone who needs some advice, some book recs, or just likes to hear about how artists do what they do and what inspires them, then this book is for you. Not overly long, and with a little something for everyone.
And I have to add my perplexity that Stephen King wrote about the power of a great opening line and referenced two of his own books' openers, and yet somehow neglected to quote his universally-acknowledged best opener from The Dark Tower: "The gunslinger fled across the desert, and the man in black followed." I quoted that from memory, Mr. King, and I'm not alone! Maybe someday someone will ask me to write about an author who inspired me, and I'll get to give this line its proper due, since clearly SK was too modest and forgot. ;)
10 big, lighthouse stars
December 27, 2017
Here Joe Fassler gives us a collection of short essays by famous contemporary writers, each citing another author's work that lit their creative fires.
Some inspiring authors get double tips of the hat--giants like Emily Dickinson, Franz Kafka, and Walt Whitman, for instance. And admittedly, some of the essays dragged a bit, causing me to leapfrog to the next writer who might be (and usually was) more interesting. (It should be noted, too, that I completely skipped Jane Smiley's essay, for the long-ago crime of dissing Mark Twain's Huckleberry Finn as unfit for the literary landscape.)
I made a selected list of some of the authors' choices to give you a flavor of who and what inspires people who inspire with the pen for a living. If you want to go deeper and take a gander, follow the yellow brick link:
https://kencraftpoetry.wordpress.com/...
Some inspiring authors get double tips of the hat--giants like Emily Dickinson, Franz Kafka, and Walt Whitman, for instance. And admittedly, some of the essays dragged a bit, causing me to leapfrog to the next writer who might be (and usually was) more interesting. (It should be noted, too, that I completely skipped Jane Smiley's essay, for the long-ago crime of dissing Mark Twain's Huckleberry Finn as unfit for the literary landscape.)
I made a selected list of some of the authors' choices to give you a flavor of who and what inspires people who inspire with the pen for a living. If you want to go deeper and take a gander, follow the yellow brick link:
https://kencraftpoetry.wordpress.com/...
September 8, 2017
Reading this book felt like sitting down for coffee with some of the best writers of our time and picking their brain about the genesis of their relationship with writing, where they derive inspiration, their writing process, and what they love about writing. For anyone who's ever been curious about creative minds and dabbled in writing themselves, this is the book for you.
October 5, 2017
This book gave me a front row seat to one of the most interesting experiences both as a reader and a writer. The Author had three words that were posted to the authors and they were "what inspires you?"
Now, unless you live under a rock, or haven't read much, these are authors who have written some of the best books over the years. Their contribution in shaping the world, cultures, knowledge transition and story-telling has been through their writing. I'm talking about forty six award winning writers of different genres, from different cultures, countries and races and they in turn share some works that inspire them or the moment they truly embraced writing and what led to that kind of inspiration.
I loved how personal and reflective each writer's take was and frankly speaking this has got to be the most biased review I have written because one; I love most of the writers and I have read most of their works, two; It really felt great knowing that they had their challenges and doubts about what they were writing, three; They were also influenced by other works of literature.
I am glad to have received a copy of this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. It did take me almost a month to read it because I had issues with the formatting for kindle and after a while, I had to resort to Adobe Digital Editions to get to read it.
I am glad I didn't give in to the formatting frustrations because I would have missed out on the insights on creativity, writing, and storytelling from authors I'd love to meet one day.
Now, unless you live under a rock, or haven't read much, these are authors who have written some of the best books over the years. Their contribution in shaping the world, cultures, knowledge transition and story-telling has been through their writing. I'm talking about forty six award winning writers of different genres, from different cultures, countries and races and they in turn share some works that inspire them or the moment they truly embraced writing and what led to that kind of inspiration.
I loved how personal and reflective each writer's take was and frankly speaking this has got to be the most biased review I have written because one; I love most of the writers and I have read most of their works, two; It really felt great knowing that they had their challenges and doubts about what they were writing, three; They were also influenced by other works of literature.
I am glad to have received a copy of this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. It did take me almost a month to read it because I had issues with the formatting for kindle and after a while, I had to resort to Adobe Digital Editions to get to read it.
I am glad I didn't give in to the formatting frustrations because I would have missed out on the insights on creativity, writing, and storytelling from authors I'd love to meet one day.
August 8, 2021
I'm about halfway through this collection of essays, and I feel compelled to write a review. I highly recommend this book for anyone who is a writer, wants to be a writer, or just wants to know more about how writers think.
The essays are from working writers -- some famous, some well-known, others more obscure -- who discuss what has inspired them or taught them valuable lessons about what it means to be a writer and, just as important, to be human.
All of the essays are good; some are transcendent. I won't say which those are, since I am sure my list will vary from your list.
Lastly, if you are someone who struggles to find time to read, this book is nice because most essays can be read in 10-20 minutes, so it is a good book if you can't find long windows of time to read.
The essays are from working writers -- some famous, some well-known, others more obscure -- who discuss what has inspired them or taught them valuable lessons about what it means to be a writer and, just as important, to be human.
All of the essays are good; some are transcendent. I won't say which those are, since I am sure my list will vary from your list.
Lastly, if you are someone who struggles to find time to read, this book is nice because most essays can be read in 10-20 minutes, so it is a good book if you can't find long windows of time to read.
February 27, 2019
5 stars for Neil Gaiman's essay; 2-4 stars for everyone else.
October 12, 2019
Language is limited, it's a faulty tool
But oh how it lights the dark
Aimee Bender p5
This is a fitting introduction from the first essay in this illuminating collection of essays by most of the living luminaries of modern literature and its offshoots. Edited by Joe Fassler and published in 2017, it still has the feel of hot off the press.
The essays are all short and personal. The same question was posed to all of the authors. What has inspired you? Each essay is accompanied by a fanciful sketch and a quote from a book that each author has chosen as pivotal in their writing career. Some proclaim early conviction and unequivocal dedication; others confess to contradictory inclinations and/or an ambiguous or sudden calling. Most are an exploration of creativity rather than pure recollection.
Of course there are some kinds of ambiguity you want to avoid. P51 William Gibson
The essays frequently reach back to that most hazy of times, childhood, when our preferences begin to differentiate. There are musings on method and motivation,on memory and imagination; on form and function; on attitude and ambition; and on life and death and the creative interlude in between.
The working process is an interplay between the ideas you begin with and the story that emerges despite what you think. P 252 Jane Smiley
The text that you write is an object that collides with the mind of the reader and some third thing which is completely unknowable is made...interesting and beautiful. P175 Jesse Ball
Your damage and your dismay are the best things you've got going, and you've got to open yourself to it. P169 Jonathon Lethem
....for the darkness restores what the light cannot repair....p110 Kathryn Harrison quoting Joseph Brodsky
One of the nicest surprises was the feeling of pleasure I got from the essays of the few writers included that I never did like. It was good to gain some understanding of them to replace my rigid rejection. Most of the authors also quote liberally from their most treasured file. And of course it was wonderful to meet a handful of authors I had not known, and that includes Joe Fassler, whose sensitive editing has given us this feast.
If I love a book, it strikes my heart. The mind comes later. Azar Nafisi
I know a book is good when I can no longer tell that I am reading a book, when I become not a reader but a human being. p309 T.C.Boyle
I chose to read this one essay each morning and one before bed. If it only would have included a photo of each author and a short bio and bibliography it would be full stars for this wonderful collection. I must admit, digging around for that information was a rewarding exercise in itself. I am inspired.
There are no rules. Only, can you do this with confidence and...with aplomb.
More than anything else, I just love random fucking joy. p326 Neil Gaimon
CONTRIBUTING AUTHORS: Elizabeth Gilbert, Junot Díaz, Marilynne Robinson, Jonathan Lethem, Michael Chabon, Aimee Bender, Mary Gaitskill, Stephen King, Neil Gaiman, Roxane Gay, Angela Flournoy, Jonathan Franzen, Yiyun Li, Leslie Jamison, Claire Messud, Edwidge Danticat, David Mitchell, Khaled Hosseini, Ayana Mathis, Kathryn Harrison, Azar Nafisi, Hanya Yanagihara, Jane Smiley, Nell Zink, Emma Donoghue, Jeff Tweedy, Eileen Myles, Maggie Shipstead, Sherman Alexie, Andre Dubus III, Billy Collins, Lev Grossman, Karl Ove Knausgaard, Charles Simic, Jim Shepard, T.C. Boyle, Tom Perrotta, Viet Than Nguyen, William Gibson, Mark Haddon, Ethan Canin, Jessie Ball, Jim Crace, and Walter Mosley.
But oh how it lights the dark
Aimee Bender p5
This is a fitting introduction from the first essay in this illuminating collection of essays by most of the living luminaries of modern literature and its offshoots. Edited by Joe Fassler and published in 2017, it still has the feel of hot off the press.
The essays are all short and personal. The same question was posed to all of the authors. What has inspired you? Each essay is accompanied by a fanciful sketch and a quote from a book that each author has chosen as pivotal in their writing career. Some proclaim early conviction and unequivocal dedication; others confess to contradictory inclinations and/or an ambiguous or sudden calling. Most are an exploration of creativity rather than pure recollection.
Of course there are some kinds of ambiguity you want to avoid. P51 William Gibson
The essays frequently reach back to that most hazy of times, childhood, when our preferences begin to differentiate. There are musings on method and motivation,on memory and imagination; on form and function; on attitude and ambition; and on life and death and the creative interlude in between.
The working process is an interplay between the ideas you begin with and the story that emerges despite what you think. P 252 Jane Smiley
The text that you write is an object that collides with the mind of the reader and some third thing which is completely unknowable is made...interesting and beautiful. P175 Jesse Ball
Your damage and your dismay are the best things you've got going, and you've got to open yourself to it. P169 Jonathon Lethem
....for the darkness restores what the light cannot repair....p110 Kathryn Harrison quoting Joseph Brodsky
One of the nicest surprises was the feeling of pleasure I got from the essays of the few writers included that I never did like. It was good to gain some understanding of them to replace my rigid rejection. Most of the authors also quote liberally from their most treasured file. And of course it was wonderful to meet a handful of authors I had not known, and that includes Joe Fassler, whose sensitive editing has given us this feast.
If I love a book, it strikes my heart. The mind comes later. Azar Nafisi
I know a book is good when I can no longer tell that I am reading a book, when I become not a reader but a human being. p309 T.C.Boyle
I chose to read this one essay each morning and one before bed. If it only would have included a photo of each author and a short bio and bibliography it would be full stars for this wonderful collection. I must admit, digging around for that information was a rewarding exercise in itself. I am inspired.
There are no rules. Only, can you do this with confidence and...with aplomb.
More than anything else, I just love random fucking joy. p326 Neil Gaimon
CONTRIBUTING AUTHORS: Elizabeth Gilbert, Junot Díaz, Marilynne Robinson, Jonathan Lethem, Michael Chabon, Aimee Bender, Mary Gaitskill, Stephen King, Neil Gaiman, Roxane Gay, Angela Flournoy, Jonathan Franzen, Yiyun Li, Leslie Jamison, Claire Messud, Edwidge Danticat, David Mitchell, Khaled Hosseini, Ayana Mathis, Kathryn Harrison, Azar Nafisi, Hanya Yanagihara, Jane Smiley, Nell Zink, Emma Donoghue, Jeff Tweedy, Eileen Myles, Maggie Shipstead, Sherman Alexie, Andre Dubus III, Billy Collins, Lev Grossman, Karl Ove Knausgaard, Charles Simic, Jim Shepard, T.C. Boyle, Tom Perrotta, Viet Than Nguyen, William Gibson, Mark Haddon, Ethan Canin, Jessie Ball, Jim Crace, and Walter Mosley.
January 11, 2023
I cannot express my gratitude to this book - for teaching me about writing, and about the humanity of writers, and for providing swaths of artistic wisdom. Each of these essays is existential gold.
A book is not just the bound, polished, finished thing in front of you, but the life and effort of the writer behind it, expressed through time and text. I think I forget that sometimes, and then I wonder why my drafts don’t live up to the finished things around me. Writing is a process, and an imperfect and trudging and curious and exciting one. Thank you to this book for helping me feel less alone.
A book is not just the bound, polished, finished thing in front of you, but the life and effort of the writer behind it, expressed through time and text. I think I forget that sometimes, and then I wonder why my drafts don’t live up to the finished things around me. Writing is a process, and an imperfect and trudging and curious and exciting one. Thank you to this book for helping me feel less alone.
January 21, 2018
Light the Dark is a collection of essays detailing the love that influential authors have for writing fiction and reading literature. It is a fascinating plunge into the inner experiences and unique perspectives of talented and sensitive writers, and for an aspiring fiction writer like me, this book was an absolute joy to read. Further, already I can understand how formative these essays are proving to be for me, opening my eyes to important issues contained within fiction and diversifying my approach to it. I would even go as far as to say that it has impacted my own creative writing.
I am very grateful to Joe Fassler for having embarked on this project, and I can see myself returning to this book if ever I need another boost of inspiration. Especially now, as my own endeavor into an MFA program is approaching, I believe this was an important book for me to read. I recommend it to all who have a special affection for and interest in reading--not just the writers.
I am very grateful to Joe Fassler for having embarked on this project, and I can see myself returning to this book if ever I need another boost of inspiration. Especially now, as my own endeavor into an MFA program is approaching, I believe this was an important book for me to read. I recommend it to all who have a special affection for and interest in reading--not just the writers.
January 2, 2024
I can think of only two or three essays in this collection of 46 (!) that left me cold. All the rest made fireworks go off in my brain and heart. I love the mix of writers featured here—from Marilynne Robinson and Ayana Mathis to William Gibson and Stephen King, it's a healthy cross-section from multiple genres, all waxing poetic on their favorite lines or passages from the literature that influenced them most. I think these essays have cured me of the desire to read craft books for the foreseeable future. How to write is one thing; why we write is another. This book is about the latter—that gut-level thrill that comes from all the incredible things language can do; those sudden epiphanies that make writers out of readers.
Highly recommended.
Highly recommended.
March 5, 2019
A terrific series of essays by writers of all stripes discussing how a particular piece -- a poem, a line from a play or a song, a passage from a novel -- inspired them. Some focused on a piece encountered in childhood that set them on the writing path, while others looked at more recent discoveries; some authors stayed focused on the quote, while others talked more broadly about the artistic process and its import in their lives. This is a book you'll want to dip in and out of, if you're intrigued by the creative process, especially how it manifests on the page.
November 2, 2017
It an interesting look at how writers work and are inspired.
January 31, 2018
I enjoyed this collection of short stories. I thought the way the novel was illustrated and the choice of passages each author used inspired me in a sense.
December 30, 2023
Thoughtful and often profound short essays on writing inspiration. I enjoyed this more than I expected to and took note of several novels and authors to look up later.
August 9, 2019
I read this one off and on over a number of months. Every time I picked it up, I came away inspired and affirmed in my love of reading and writing and my unwavering belief in the power of stories.
April 1, 2022
Aside from the eye-catching cover and the detailed title, I was apprehensive about reading this book but I'm glad I accepted the challenge I gave myself. As part of the Read With Fey challenge to read something each month to help with your writing craft, I was excited when I came across this title.
My fear was that I wouldn't be able to relate to some of what these notable writers had to say and I expected a lot of it to come off as pretentious since it focuses a lot on literary fiction. Honestly, while some parts did seem a little pretentious, most of it was very relatable. Turns out I can be a bit prejudiced. As I continue to grow as a person, I'm happy to admit that I got a lot out of this book and am inspired to continue growing as a writer.
I think what stood out most to me in this book about writers and their inspirations is how much it focuses on the experience of the reader. All these writers are readers and use that as a way to inspire them.
I was so impressed by the diversity of these creatives and the variety of the works that inspired them. Yes, there are a lot of references to literary fiction, but nonfiction, genre fiction, poetry, stage plays, and music also have a place here. I enjoyed reading about the writers who I found I had some things in common with and even liked discovering contrary interests that some had to my tastes.
Highly recommended to writers at any level of their journey and creatives of any kind who enjoy reading.
My fear was that I wouldn't be able to relate to some of what these notable writers had to say and I expected a lot of it to come off as pretentious since it focuses a lot on literary fiction. Honestly, while some parts did seem a little pretentious, most of it was very relatable. Turns out I can be a bit prejudiced. As I continue to grow as a person, I'm happy to admit that I got a lot out of this book and am inspired to continue growing as a writer.
I think what stood out most to me in this book about writers and their inspirations is how much it focuses on the experience of the reader. All these writers are readers and use that as a way to inspire them.
I was so impressed by the diversity of these creatives and the variety of the works that inspired them. Yes, there are a lot of references to literary fiction, but nonfiction, genre fiction, poetry, stage plays, and music also have a place here. I enjoyed reading about the writers who I found I had some things in common with and even liked discovering contrary interests that some had to my tastes.
Highly recommended to writers at any level of their journey and creatives of any kind who enjoy reading.
January 13, 2020
My own feelings about this book are somewhat ambivalent, as is often the case when it comes to books dealing with authors talking about creativity and inspiration. On the one hand, these particular authors show a great deal of respect for those who helped inspire them (and some, it should be noted, claim the inspiration of scripture in their own desire to become authors), and to see people give honor and respect to others as providing encouragement and an example to follow is heartening and worthwhile. On the other hand, many of these authors seem to think that they are somewhat important and the self-importance of some of these authors and the way that they expect others to view them as an inspiration is not always equally enjoyable. To be sure, I knew some of these authors and liked some of their comments but quite a few of the authors were people whose writings I am unfamiliar with and whose perspectives I do not consider particularly noteworthy of important or worthwhile. A book like this can be taken as evidence of the need that creative people have for viewing their own personal and idiosyncratic reasons as generally applicable abstract and universal truths, and there are obviously both good and bad sides of that.
This book consists of more than 300 pages of various writers holding court about their own views of creativity, inspiration, and the artistic process. Each chapter is written by a different writer, some famous and a great many obscure and perhaps only known to genre readers in genres I do not know much about and each chapter includes a quote from a source of inspiration that the writers midrash about through the rest of their essays. Some of the writers are particularly famous, including: Stephen King, Amy Tan, Khaled Hosseini, Charles Simic, Jane Smiley, and Neil Gaiman. Others are much more obscure but may be familiar to the reader. In general, many of the writers express gratitude for the way that the works of others helped them to justify their own personality quirks and flaws, or helped them find a place in the world or the knowledge that other people were like them and that they were not so alone in the world as they had thought. A great many of the writers also feel the need to express their own (sometimes unwelcome) opinions about various social and political matters as well as their own occasional self-absorption.
Those who appreciate the writers included in this book will likely find a great deal that they enjoy from reading about the creative process and views of inspiration that these writers have. Some people may have a great deal of respect for the thinking of creative types as a whole, and some will have a respect for one or more of the people included, and where this is the case the book can be read profitably and enjoyably. In my own judgment, for what it's worth, this book is of most interest to those who as creative artists (especially writers) they wish to find in the words of other writers ways to articulate their own views about the artistic process as well as the expectation that others would find their own views of interest. Far be it from me to uncharitably view the desires of people like myself to be respected for their personal views, but I wonder if the people who are so intent on expressing their own opinions are as charitable about the opinions of others who may have very different ideas about creativity than they do, not least when people like those in this book stray from the reservation and talk about a great deal that is less easy to accept than views about the artistic process in the course of bloviating in self-importance.
This book consists of more than 300 pages of various writers holding court about their own views of creativity, inspiration, and the artistic process. Each chapter is written by a different writer, some famous and a great many obscure and perhaps only known to genre readers in genres I do not know much about and each chapter includes a quote from a source of inspiration that the writers midrash about through the rest of their essays. Some of the writers are particularly famous, including: Stephen King, Amy Tan, Khaled Hosseini, Charles Simic, Jane Smiley, and Neil Gaiman. Others are much more obscure but may be familiar to the reader. In general, many of the writers express gratitude for the way that the works of others helped them to justify their own personality quirks and flaws, or helped them find a place in the world or the knowledge that other people were like them and that they were not so alone in the world as they had thought. A great many of the writers also feel the need to express their own (sometimes unwelcome) opinions about various social and political matters as well as their own occasional self-absorption.
Those who appreciate the writers included in this book will likely find a great deal that they enjoy from reading about the creative process and views of inspiration that these writers have. Some people may have a great deal of respect for the thinking of creative types as a whole, and some will have a respect for one or more of the people included, and where this is the case the book can be read profitably and enjoyably. In my own judgment, for what it's worth, this book is of most interest to those who as creative artists (especially writers) they wish to find in the words of other writers ways to articulate their own views about the artistic process as well as the expectation that others would find their own views of interest. Far be it from me to uncharitably view the desires of people like myself to be respected for their personal views, but I wonder if the people who are so intent on expressing their own opinions are as charitable about the opinions of others who may have very different ideas about creativity than they do, not least when people like those in this book stray from the reservation and talk about a great deal that is less easy to accept than views about the artistic process in the course of bloviating in self-importance.
October 8, 2023
Reread: October 2023
I want to give this a higher rating for the essays in here that have stuck with me these last four years. But I can't. The number of essays that worked (for me) and the ones I found uninspiring/DNF'd are 3-to-1 at least. I will, however, fully recommend this to anyone who wants to read what popular authors think about books that inspired them, and the act of creation. It's a good book to have on the bedside table and pick up here and there when the mood strikes. And, like me, maybe you'll find a handful of favorite essays to hold close to your heart.
Original Review: January 2019
I come away having read some great essays, some bland ones, and may have (I definitely) skipped a couple. Now I'm going into 2019 with new authors to check out, and if that isn't a great way to kick things off, then I don't know what is. 3.5/5
I want to give this a higher rating for the essays in here that have stuck with me these last four years. But I can't. The number of essays that worked (for me) and the ones I found uninspiring/DNF'd are 3-to-1 at least. I will, however, fully recommend this to anyone who wants to read what popular authors think about books that inspired them, and the act of creation. It's a good book to have on the bedside table and pick up here and there when the mood strikes. And, like me, maybe you'll find a handful of favorite essays to hold close to your heart.
Original Review: January 2019
I come away having read some great essays, some bland ones, and may have (I definitely) skipped a couple. Now I'm going into 2019 with new authors to check out, and if that isn't a great way to kick things off, then I don't know what is. 3.5/5
October 18, 2017
Maybe I'm just not the market for this book anymore, but I didn't find this particularly inspiring or helpful. Although I will say I appreciated the diversity of writers interviewed - that's often lacking today, and I really liked the varying voices.
November 6, 2019
Consistently fantastic reflections on writing, process, and creative inspiration. A few too many white folk/white men for my liking, but most essays were excellent (incl. by some white dudes).
4.25/5
In any case, the first sentence is the handshake, on either side of the writer-reader divide. The reader shakes hands with the writer .The writer has already had to shake hands with the unknown. Assuming both have heard the click, we’ve got it going on. – William Gibson, 53
It’s every eight or nine or ten days with me when most of the entire writing session feels I’m just moving with eh character, a strange observer in their chest some way as they go about their business. I think it’s why a lot of writers write, is for that feeling. – Andre Dubus III, 63
Get disciplined. Learn to rush to your laptop and open it up. Open the file without asking yourself if you’re in the mood, without thinking about anything else. Just open the file—and then you’re safe. Once the words are on the screen, that becomes your distraction. - David Mitchell, 117
There’s a shame around staying too long in a feeling of pain. - Leslie Jamison, 159
At a certain point, you have to be kind to yourself as a writer and trust your own motives. You have to have confidence that you’re coming from the right place. you have to allow yourself to let loose, pursue a good story, and create people who feel real. Not good, not bad, certainly not perfect—just real. – Angela Flournay, 181
I like to think you write a book to talk to another book. - Yiyun Li, 193
You can feel it in a book when a writer flinches away from seeing too deeply into their characters. – Yiyun Li, 196
The writer sits at the desk (or somewhere) and expends many, many quiet, solidary hours of her finite life in exchange for the opportunity to build more lives, imaginary ones, cantilevering them off her own and out into the ether. The reader trades hours, too—for access to those lives and the irregular chronologies on which they are stretched like flesh over a skeleton. – Maggie Shipstead, 202
I bought a copy, and kept it on my desk the entire time that I wrote my novel. For two years, every morning, I’d read a few pages of the book until my own urge to write became so uncontrollable that I finally had to put the book down and start writing myself. – Viet Thanh Nguyen, 227
When I write I am considering the broad scope of my experience into something narrower but longer-lasting, reducing myself into something that does not contain all of me but will outlast me. – Claire Messud, 242
As the reader goes along reading this abundance of sentences, from time to time one grabs and holds on. To me, that’s the essence of the novel: the tension between wanting to linger in appreciation of an individual line, and wanting to see what happens next. You must move on, if you’re ever going to finish the book […] and yet certain details capture you, slow you, ask you to pause. It’s because of this experience that I love novels most among art forms. When you’re reading a poem, you’re asked to linger. If a poem is 100 words long, you’re asked to pay attention to each word. But when you’re reading a novel, you’re asked to keep moving—yet you resist this forward motion when certain lines demand your attention. – Jane Smiley, 249
There are two kinds of sentences in a rough draft: seeds and pebbles. If it’s a pebble, it’s just the next sentence and it sits there. But if it’s a seed it grows into something that becomes an important part of the life of the novel. The problem is, you can’t know ahead of time whether a sentence will be a seed or a pebble, or how important a seed it’s going to be. […] That’s why it’s important to remain open to the unexpected. The writing experience is in some ways like riding a bucking bronco—sometimes he’s good, sometimes he bucks you off, sometimes he follows orders, sometimes he spooks. I like that unexpected quality. You have to be able to keep riding whatever comes. – Jane Smiley, 252
The greatest thing about the novel is that it gives access to the mind of the writer. – Jane Smily, 253
I have a theory about writing, which is that you cannot simultaneously write something true about character and, at the same time, write something linguistically beautiful. There are too few words to express both truth and beauty, so most empathetic—or another way to say this might be character-driven—writers tend to naturally reserve their beautiful construction for when the content is less urgent. – Ethan Canin, 305
I think it’s [the five words’ (“that was how he was.”)] very blankness that allows them to channel so much emotion. Because they don’t bring anything specific to mind, they allow us to feel without thinking. At the end of a story or novel, you do not want the reader thinking. Endings are about emotion, and logic is emotion’s enemy. It’s the writer’s job to disarm the reader of his logic, to just make the reader feel. – Ethan Canin, 305
You just picked shit up [in used bookstores], and you’re like, what is this? I think the hand eye connection is unseverable for passionate readers. – Eileen Myles, 315
You could stay in some guesthouse anywhere in the world, and there’s three books there, and one of them changed your life. I love to be an agent of that. You never know what’s going to happen when you leave a book someplace. – Eileen Myles, 316
4.25/5
In any case, the first sentence is the handshake, on either side of the writer-reader divide. The reader shakes hands with the writer .The writer has already had to shake hands with the unknown. Assuming both have heard the click, we’ve got it going on. – William Gibson, 53
It’s every eight or nine or ten days with me when most of the entire writing session feels I’m just moving with eh character, a strange observer in their chest some way as they go about their business. I think it’s why a lot of writers write, is for that feeling. – Andre Dubus III, 63
Get disciplined. Learn to rush to your laptop and open it up. Open the file without asking yourself if you’re in the mood, without thinking about anything else. Just open the file—and then you’re safe. Once the words are on the screen, that becomes your distraction. - David Mitchell, 117
There’s a shame around staying too long in a feeling of pain. - Leslie Jamison, 159
At a certain point, you have to be kind to yourself as a writer and trust your own motives. You have to have confidence that you’re coming from the right place. you have to allow yourself to let loose, pursue a good story, and create people who feel real. Not good, not bad, certainly not perfect—just real. – Angela Flournay, 181
I like to think you write a book to talk to another book. - Yiyun Li, 193
You can feel it in a book when a writer flinches away from seeing too deeply into their characters. – Yiyun Li, 196
The writer sits at the desk (or somewhere) and expends many, many quiet, solidary hours of her finite life in exchange for the opportunity to build more lives, imaginary ones, cantilevering them off her own and out into the ether. The reader trades hours, too—for access to those lives and the irregular chronologies on which they are stretched like flesh over a skeleton. – Maggie Shipstead, 202
I bought a copy, and kept it on my desk the entire time that I wrote my novel. For two years, every morning, I’d read a few pages of the book until my own urge to write became so uncontrollable that I finally had to put the book down and start writing myself. – Viet Thanh Nguyen, 227
When I write I am considering the broad scope of my experience into something narrower but longer-lasting, reducing myself into something that does not contain all of me but will outlast me. – Claire Messud, 242
As the reader goes along reading this abundance of sentences, from time to time one grabs and holds on. To me, that’s the essence of the novel: the tension between wanting to linger in appreciation of an individual line, and wanting to see what happens next. You must move on, if you’re ever going to finish the book […] and yet certain details capture you, slow you, ask you to pause. It’s because of this experience that I love novels most among art forms. When you’re reading a poem, you’re asked to linger. If a poem is 100 words long, you’re asked to pay attention to each word. But when you’re reading a novel, you’re asked to keep moving—yet you resist this forward motion when certain lines demand your attention. – Jane Smiley, 249
There are two kinds of sentences in a rough draft: seeds and pebbles. If it’s a pebble, it’s just the next sentence and it sits there. But if it’s a seed it grows into something that becomes an important part of the life of the novel. The problem is, you can’t know ahead of time whether a sentence will be a seed or a pebble, or how important a seed it’s going to be. […] That’s why it’s important to remain open to the unexpected. The writing experience is in some ways like riding a bucking bronco—sometimes he’s good, sometimes he bucks you off, sometimes he follows orders, sometimes he spooks. I like that unexpected quality. You have to be able to keep riding whatever comes. – Jane Smiley, 252
The greatest thing about the novel is that it gives access to the mind of the writer. – Jane Smily, 253
I have a theory about writing, which is that you cannot simultaneously write something true about character and, at the same time, write something linguistically beautiful. There are too few words to express both truth and beauty, so most empathetic—or another way to say this might be character-driven—writers tend to naturally reserve their beautiful construction for when the content is less urgent. – Ethan Canin, 305
I think it’s [the five words’ (“that was how he was.”)] very blankness that allows them to channel so much emotion. Because they don’t bring anything specific to mind, they allow us to feel without thinking. At the end of a story or novel, you do not want the reader thinking. Endings are about emotion, and logic is emotion’s enemy. It’s the writer’s job to disarm the reader of his logic, to just make the reader feel. – Ethan Canin, 305
You just picked shit up [in used bookstores], and you’re like, what is this? I think the hand eye connection is unseverable for passionate readers. – Eileen Myles, 315
You could stay in some guesthouse anywhere in the world, and there’s three books there, and one of them changed your life. I love to be an agent of that. You never know what’s going to happen when you leave a book someplace. – Eileen Myles, 316
June 24, 2019
Highly recommended read!!! (Beware- there are a couple of spoilers here and I also quote a little from the book directly😁)
Of all other books on writing I have ever read, Light the Dark goes unsurpassed.
In this book, 46 critically-acclaimed writers have joined together to create a masterpiece that is truly one of its kind. In an anthology of brief essays, each of these writers center their pieces around quotes and passages that have influenced both their writing and themselves, offering a spellbinding range of perspectives that dive deep into the authors’ lives, exposing vulnerabilities with an honesty that isn’t afraid to cut to the bone. But more than that, they show us how finding inspiration in the words of others has transformed them. They show us how through the power of literature and art a person’s whole life can be changed ‘in a paragraph, in a turn of a phrase, in a single well-used word’.
The first time I started reading Light the Dark, I couldn’t put it down, utterly absorbed in the way these authors discuss their artistic lives, commenting on what it means to be a writer as well as what makes for a good story, all the while exuding heart-felt appreciation for the writers and poets- and even a musician as we encounter Miles Davis in Mark Haddon’s piece- that inspired them to write. And I believe it’s this appreciation combined with the emotion that oozes through every written word that makes this book so addictive and so tantalizing.
Some entries such as those of Stephen King and Khaled Hosseini had me hanging onto every word, and other entries like those of Amy Tan, Sherman Alexie and Karl Ove Knausgaard blew me away with their fascinating stories. I found myself identifying most with Lev Grossman’s piece (addressing C.S. Lewis’ The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe with Grossman saying it ‘was the first book that I was ever transported by. I think it’s the book that taught me what novels are supposed to do.’) as well as with the one by Jonathan Lethem (where Lethem reveals that reading Franz Kafka’s The Trial in his teenage years is what ‘made me a writer; it made me who I am.’). All these writers bring different experiences, different values and different opinions, and I think that’s the beauty of this book; no matter your own set of experiences, values and opinions, there will always be something that’ll spark your interest as well as your admiration.
Then once I finished reading, I felt compelled to go back and read it all over again just to make sure I hadn’t missed anything. During this time, I found myself using arrow flags to mark quotes from the entries of Andre Dubus III, Neil Gaiman, Aimee Bender and many more so I can open the book at any given time when writer’s doubts start creeping in and sigh delightfully over them- sentimental, I’m aware, but true nevertheless. This book is just that good.
To conclude, Light the Dark is a treasure for any reader- writer or otherwise- and an absolute necessity for every author to have for when you just need that little bit of magic to get you going.
Of all other books on writing I have ever read, Light the Dark goes unsurpassed.
In this book, 46 critically-acclaimed writers have joined together to create a masterpiece that is truly one of its kind. In an anthology of brief essays, each of these writers center their pieces around quotes and passages that have influenced both their writing and themselves, offering a spellbinding range of perspectives that dive deep into the authors’ lives, exposing vulnerabilities with an honesty that isn’t afraid to cut to the bone. But more than that, they show us how finding inspiration in the words of others has transformed them. They show us how through the power of literature and art a person’s whole life can be changed ‘in a paragraph, in a turn of a phrase, in a single well-used word’.
The first time I started reading Light the Dark, I couldn’t put it down, utterly absorbed in the way these authors discuss their artistic lives, commenting on what it means to be a writer as well as what makes for a good story, all the while exuding heart-felt appreciation for the writers and poets- and even a musician as we encounter Miles Davis in Mark Haddon’s piece- that inspired them to write. And I believe it’s this appreciation combined with the emotion that oozes through every written word that makes this book so addictive and so tantalizing.
Some entries such as those of Stephen King and Khaled Hosseini had me hanging onto every word, and other entries like those of Amy Tan, Sherman Alexie and Karl Ove Knausgaard blew me away with their fascinating stories. I found myself identifying most with Lev Grossman’s piece (addressing C.S. Lewis’ The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe with Grossman saying it ‘was the first book that I was ever transported by. I think it’s the book that taught me what novels are supposed to do.’) as well as with the one by Jonathan Lethem (where Lethem reveals that reading Franz Kafka’s The Trial in his teenage years is what ‘made me a writer; it made me who I am.’). All these writers bring different experiences, different values and different opinions, and I think that’s the beauty of this book; no matter your own set of experiences, values and opinions, there will always be something that’ll spark your interest as well as your admiration.
Then once I finished reading, I felt compelled to go back and read it all over again just to make sure I hadn’t missed anything. During this time, I found myself using arrow flags to mark quotes from the entries of Andre Dubus III, Neil Gaiman, Aimee Bender and many more so I can open the book at any given time when writer’s doubts start creeping in and sigh delightfully over them- sentimental, I’m aware, but true nevertheless. This book is just that good.
To conclude, Light the Dark is a treasure for any reader- writer or otherwise- and an absolute necessity for every author to have for when you just need that little bit of magic to get you going.
January 5, 2021
I’m a dissenting voice in reviews of this book. I so anticipated that it would be a five star title for me — books about creativity, inspiration and the artistic process almost always are. Instead, and unfortunately, I found it quite uneven and just as often annoying as it was enlightening.
There were great moments of startling insight. For example, Ethan Canin writes,
“I have a theory about writing, which is that you cannot simultaneously write something true about character and, at the same time, write something linguistically beautiful. There are too few words to express both truth and beauty, so most ...character-driven writers tend to naturally reserve their beautiful constructions for when the content is less urgent.” (P.305)
Maybe it’s just me, but I find this sort of little gem fascinating and thought-provoking.
But there were also lots of moments where I knew, before being told, that the author is a writing teacher at some college or other. I knew because said author would be working hard to convince the reader of his/her literary sensitivity and intelligence by claiming some strange and obscure passage of text as their personal favourite and then writing DEEP THOUGHTS about that text and how it relates to their own work, which we’re given to understand is equally deep and worthy of the coveted term ‘literature’.
There were great moments of startling insight. For example, Ethan Canin writes,
“I have a theory about writing, which is that you cannot simultaneously write something true about character and, at the same time, write something linguistically beautiful. There are too few words to express both truth and beauty, so most ...character-driven writers tend to naturally reserve their beautiful constructions for when the content is less urgent.” (P.305)
Maybe it’s just me, but I find this sort of little gem fascinating and thought-provoking.
But there were also lots of moments where I knew, before being told, that the author is a writing teacher at some college or other. I knew because said author would be working hard to convince the reader of his/her literary sensitivity and intelligence by claiming some strange and obscure passage of text as their personal favourite and then writing DEEP THOUGHTS about that text and how it relates to their own work, which we’re given to understand is equally deep and worthy of the coveted term ‘literature’.
June 13, 2020
The self-contained nature of the chapters made it hard for me to read this book quickly, which wasn't a bad thing. Writers explaining what inspires them—and sometimes struggling to get at it—gave me lots to think about.
Several times, chapters resonated so sharply that I immediately had to go track down the author and his/her best books. Chapters from authors I already knew and respected typically paid off, although...unpopular opinion, maybe...I'd hoped for more from Stephen King and Walter Mosley.
King because his chapter didn't quite fit the assignment and almost felt pasted from somewhere else.
Mosley because I've read a ton-load of his books and his contribution was so brief it left me wanting more of a window.
On the flip-side, maybe Mosley was onto something, because some of the essays wandered, and those were the ones I ended up skimming instead of reading line by line, pencil in hand.
All in all, a varied and eye-opening collection of essays that helped me think about my own craft with added clarity and inspiration.
Several times, chapters resonated so sharply that I immediately had to go track down the author and his/her best books. Chapters from authors I already knew and respected typically paid off, although...unpopular opinion, maybe...I'd hoped for more from Stephen King and Walter Mosley.
King because his chapter didn't quite fit the assignment and almost felt pasted from somewhere else.
Mosley because I've read a ton-load of his books and his contribution was so brief it left me wanting more of a window.
On the flip-side, maybe Mosley was onto something, because some of the essays wandered, and those were the ones I ended up skimming instead of reading line by line, pencil in hand.
All in all, a varied and eye-opening collection of essays that helped me think about my own craft with added clarity and inspiration.
January 16, 2022
This is a very special book that I will be keeping for a long time. For an aspiring writer, there is nothing more comforting than the heartfelt confessions, revelations, and advice of 46 authors on the matters of inspiration. It is liberating and encouraging to hear the diversity of viewpoints, where they agree, and where they disagree. Not all entries are equally engaging and enlightening, but this diversity in ideas and values should be considered a strength from the reviewer's point even if he/she does not enjoy it as much as they should.
This might not be the artistic masterpiece one can consume and savor in a single read through, but it is definitely a treasure chest that holds more than a few gems for every person that comes across it.
This might not be the artistic masterpiece one can consume and savor in a single read through, but it is definitely a treasure chest that holds more than a few gems for every person that comes across it.
February 5, 2022
3.9/5.
I thought that some essays were better than others. Junot Diaz, Neil Gaiman, Hanya Yanagihara's essays were some that I'll remember for a long time to come.
Others made me feel either, "this is too generic" or "is that really what you think?" But. I guess each writer's mind works differently and I'll just takeaway what works best for me.
Would still say it's a good introductory read for aspiring/beginner writers. It doesn't get too technical but at the same time addresses pitfalls and challenges that writers tend to face when starting out.
I thought that some essays were better than others. Junot Diaz, Neil Gaiman, Hanya Yanagihara's essays were some that I'll remember for a long time to come.
Others made me feel either, "this is too generic" or "is that really what you think?" But. I guess each writer's mind works differently and I'll just takeaway what works best for me.
Would still say it's a good introductory read for aspiring/beginner writers. It doesn't get too technical but at the same time addresses pitfalls and challenges that writers tend to face when starting out.
December 26, 2020
It actually took me soooooo long to read this book but it was simply brilliant. Especially lately, many of the essays renewed the way I think of fiction and reminded me of what first drew me to writing. I particularly loved the conceit of writers sharing about the piece of writing that inspired them the most. Plus, Tom Perrotta’s essay made me read his novel The Leftovers a few years ago. I hope I can find another book of essays as good as this one for the next time I get into a writing rut.
January 21, 2018
This is an amazing and varied collection of short essays on creativity and inspiration. And some, I liked more than others. But there are enough really inspiring pieces for any reader or writer to delight in. Ethan Canin’s piece, “Rehearsals for Death,” was a real standout for me. I wanted to copy it out, memorize it. I also enjoyed the illustrations by Doug McLean.
August 31, 2018
This is a charming collection of essays that share insights into great works that have been written before, and how they inspired some of the greatest writers of our day. Insights on creativity, inspiration, writing, and life nurtured my writerly soul, word by word. I cannot recommend this book to writers highly enough.
April 28, 2018
Happened upon this book entirely by chance and it is an amazing essay collection about reading and writing. The list of contributors is lengthy and truly impressive; I loved the diversity of voices that were represented and took away so much from reading this.
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